Leather-clad dominatrixes, ultra-conservative Republicans and cross-dressing nuns come together this week for the 14th annual Reel Affirmations Gay and Lesbian Film Festival.
The festival, developed by the gay and lesbian cultural organization One in Ten, began as a weekend event with only a few films in 1991. This year’s festival features over 100 national and international films, including comedies, dramas and documentaries, which will be shown by the organization at the Lincoln Theatre, JCC Theatre and Goethe Institute from Oct. 14-23.
“We’ve grown leaps and bounds,” Program Manager Joe Bilancio said. “We started in Georgetown and are strategically growing and growing … For those who are true film buffs, it’s a way to see their experiences on the screen where they wouldn’t usually see them.”
One of the event’s more prominent films, Poster Boy, won the LA Outfest Outstanding Screenwriting award. Directed by Zak Tucker, the movie stars Matt Newton as Henry, the son of a right-wing Republican senator from North Carolina. Henry is living in the closet but tacitly agrees to act as a part of his father’s reelection campaign. However, Henry soon meets Anthony (Jack Noseworthy), a gay activist who challenges Henry’s hypocrisy.
Though the main storyline of the film is often predictable, several subplots add depth and insight into both Henry and Anthony’s lives. After one incident, Henry’s mother (Karen Allen), a repressed political wife, bonds with Anthony’s roommate (Valerie Geffner), an HIV-positive woman dealing with her boyfriend’s death, as they overcome their seemingly immense differences in order to appreciate the same pain that exists for both. Allen gives an impressive performance, fighting a multi-faceted struggle to find strength and equality as the wife of a domineering husband while also remaining a sensitive mother dealing with her son’s homosexuality. The film does an excellent job of exposing the frequent suffering under the surface of seemingly perfect families, though the insensitivity and corruption of the ultra-right is sometimes overdone.
Tucker will be available for questions after the showing on Thurs., Oct. 21st at 9 p.m. at the Lincoln Theatre.
Other films on the schedule include Drag Nuns in Tinseltown, a documentary of drag queens out to do charitable works in the gay community, Friends or Lovers?, a compilation of short films which explore the definitions of homosexuality, heterosexuality and bisexuality and Illusive Tracks, a subtitled film-noir Swedish film with four intertwining storylines.
The festival will kick off Oct. 14 at 7:30 p.m. at the Lincoln Theatre with D.E.B.S., a lesbian version of Charlie’s Angels, with an opening night party after the show. Tickets to the film and party are $30, while tickets to individual screenings are $9.
The Lincoln Theatre is located at 1215 U St. N.W. (Cardozo/African American Civil War Memorial metro); JCC Theatre is at 16th and Q Streets N.W. (Dupont Circle metro); and Goethe Institut is at 814 Seventh St. (Gallery Place/Chinatown metro). For more information on the program schedule and ticket pricing, go to www.reelaffirmations.org.
